A research consortium has been granted € 850.000 to develop patients specific orthopedic tools and implants.

Utrecht, December 16th, 2016 – The public-private partnership between UMC Utrecht, MRIguidance, Zimmer Biomet, Xilloc and fablab Protospace has received a research grant for their joint research project “Accelerating Mass Personalization in Orthopedics facilitated by Machine Learning and Bone MRI-based Digital Fabrication”. MRIguidance is participating with it’s proprietary technology BoneMRI that allows for radiation free bone imaging, removing further barriers for the development of 3D print techniques in orthopedics. In the coming four years, three PhD’s and one post-doc will work in the UMC Utrecht on the integral process from imaging of the patient, to production of the tools and implants and the clinical validation. These scientists will work in close collaboration with the private partners in the consortium. This will ensure that the research will be translated to be used for the benefit of orthopedic patients in hospitals. Topsectors HTSM, ICT en Creatieve Industrie have made available € 3,6 million for research projects from public-private partnerships in the field of Smart Industry. The projects should contribute to the roadmap Smart Industry of HTSM, the Commit2Data community of ICT and the CLICK.NL Agenda of Creative Industry. Six projects has been granted a financial contribution, of thich the “Accelerating Mass Personalization in Orthopedics facilitated by Machine Learning and Bone MRI-based Digital Fabrication” project is the only project focussing on healthcare.